Thursday, July 29, 2010

Brandon Graham and Simon Roy will be at Floating World Comics. Brandon is the writer King City and Multiple Warheads. Simon Roy will have copies of Jan’s Atomic Heart and Good Business, a new sci-fi mini comic he did for Heavy Metal Magazine.

So, I am trying to figure out when the 28 Days Later Vol2 and Vol3 Hard covers will come out. They were solicited a while back through Diamond and then canceled. I spoke with Dcbs and said they were canceled. I spoke with Cosmic monkey no sign of them. The have been disappeared from the Boom website. No feedback from Boom. Amazon has it up on it site, but has a message that says "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock".

Learn what a Arabber is. Check out this cool new book set in Baltimore.

Murderland is a story of doomed romance, bloodshed and the outer limits of human potential, all unfolding on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. This dark adventure is illustrated by David Hahn, written by Stephen Scott and published by Image Comics!

Wednesday, August 4th 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Location Hollywood Things From Another World
4133 NE Sandy Blvd in Portland, OR
*Note: You must be 21 or older for the beer–bring IDs!

Joe Sacco, author of Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza, is at the PAM this Sunday. He will be discussing Comics and journalism. He was a journalist and wrote one of the first art-comics in the Maltese language. It should be really engaging.

Doug tasked me with reading and reviewing, Fables - Animal Farm. He wasn't really expecting a review, since I gather that this has been out forever, but wanted to see what my non-comic book self thought of a work he likes.

Contrary to what Doug says, I do occasionally read comics, mostly Walking Dead, but I will grab other volumes as interest strikes; 28 Days Later, The Stand, etc.
Sadly my fable background has lapsed and with some of the characters I spent most of my time trying to remember the original myth. I found this distracting rather than enriching. Like with Rose Red, WTF, I cannot remember her or her role, wasn't she just some random sister? But this is ultimately a problem with me, not with the story.

I did like the art work, and I thought it was huge for bringing the writers' reality to life. I don't think that this would have been as successful as a novel. It's an example where some beautifully illustrated work can quickly wrap the reader up in a world that would otherwise take pages and pages to explain.

I found the transitions a bit abrupt and the whole story just kind of thudded to an end for me. But this has always been one of my problems with comics in general. I read, alot, and fast, so I head straight for the words, ignoring the rest. That's great if you're working through 800 pages of The Passage by J. Cronin, (which was fantastic and rightly earned a boatload of praise), not so great if mixed media is critical to understanding. I am working to change the pace when I read comics.

Overall, I liked it. The idea is cool, I really liked the art work, the story was compelling, although short. I will read more in the series, but only as other reading is cleared out of my queue.

Monday, July 26, 2010

#NotAtComicCon at Cosmic Monkey
Signing with Jeff Parker and Chris Samnee. Jeff Parker worked with Gannon. Gannon explained His current astronaut comic. Jeff wanted to see his alien so Gannon explained it to him and they worked out the alien. Chris did some fantastic sketches for us. Their current works are Agents of Atlas, Thunderbolts and The Mighty Thor. They are all great.

Portland Art Museum
We went to Family Night at the PAM. We looked at the R.Crumb exhibit. Book of genesis. What a task to illustrate and recreate the unabridged story sequentially. We got to do some drawing and made buttons thanks to the IPRC.

Drawing Class
The boys went Kids Comics Class @ Cosmic Monkey. They are making Comics.

Me and my wife are both fans of Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. The announcement of the Walking Dead TV Show sounded intriguing. But I was unsure and I have been avoiding news about it. But I guess it is coming up this fall. I watched this video from MTV. After seeing it I am really excited about Walking Dead show. After seeing how involved Kirkman is and Darabont, the director, seems awesome.

Although, Olivia doesn't believe it will actually happen until we TIVO it. We have been disappointed before. I still think of the Preacher HBO series that we were promised.

Monday, July 12, 2010

I was at Cosmic Monkey for Gannon's drawing class, which I highly recommend. Gannon is having a great time. But we were discussing Doctor Who, as you might at a comic store. And there was the classic question who is your favorite Doctor who?

And as a thought it over I am not even sure I could answer:

Tom Baker

Christopher Eccleston

David Tennet

Matt Smith

Each time a new doctor is selected. My response is the same 'Seriously?' But eventually they all become the doctor to me and they seem like a continuation of one character. I am somewhere between David Tennet and the Matt Smith, becauseI see a lot of Tom Baker in him.

Friday, July 09, 2010

I was confronted by The CSG guys at #ECCC what comics do I like. I fumbled around so I thought I write it out.
30 Second speech what comics do I like:
I like a variety of comics, I had to break my likes into several categories.

COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL
DIRECTOR: RON MANN
CANADA, 1988
Mann’s acclaimed documentary offers an entertaining, insightful survey of a largely unrecognized art form. Through interviews, animated montages, and readings, the film traces the journey of comic book art from the 1930s and ’40s and the explosive popularity of superheroes to the groundbreaking work of Will Eisner and the crime and horror comics of the ’50s. Mann also looks at the chilling effect of the Comic Code, which cited comic books as a major cause of juvenile delinquency. Mad Magazine defiantly survived the era, profoundly influencing everything that came after it. The film also looks at the rise of Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics and the independent and underground work of R. Crumb and the “comix” makers of the ’60s and ’70s. Among the many interviewed: Art Spiegelman, Harvey Pekar, Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, and Harvey Kurtzman.

Be sure to catch The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis, on view at the Portland Art Museum through September 19.

Met Moritat and Richard Starkings at Cosmic Monkey today. Their books look fantastic, and most of all I am excited about the Elephantmen movie. It sounds cool. Got a copy of their new series, Questionable Things. That was a great event.

Monday, July 05, 2010

I read a lot of comics from the library. We have two great library systems in portland through Washington County and Multnomah counties. Through these systems you can get just about any graphic novel you are looking for. I have to say after starting to read comics through the library I buy more GN than I had before.

The portland enquirer is having a great series of articles about the library -

Friday, July 02, 2010

My son Gannon, who is 7, just had a signing and sketches in Klamath falls at grandma's house. I took him to see Mike Avon Oeming and he got his drawing book signed. So this weekend he decided he would would give out signatures and do a drawing of your favorite superhero. It was good.

The kick off of Jesse Reklaw's book tour celebrating the release of Ten Thousand Things To Do with a multimedia diary comic extravaganza featuring Melinda Tracy Boyce, Clutch, Virginia Paine and of course, Jesse Reklaw!

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Courtesy of Jason Leivian, proprietor of the lovely Portland establishment Floating World Comics, Family Man will have a release and signing party on-site! It will be on July 15th from 5 to 8pm. Bring your copy of Family Man.